DONALDSONVILE, La. — The Ferriday Trojans moved one step closer to at state championship thanks to a stifling defense and balanced scoring attack.

The Trojans held Donaldsonville to just two points in the first quarter en route to a 72-54 win in the second round of the LHSAA Class 2A playoffs.

With the win, the sixth seeded Trojans (24-7) will host No. 3 seed Episcopal of Baton Rouge at 7 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinals of the tournament.

“We played real good defense in the first quarter,” Ferriday coach K.G. Watkins said. “It was a long bus ride and we came out a little stiff and tentative, but our defense held us in the game.”

Donaldsonville, seeded 22nd out of the 32 teams in the tournament, cut into the lead and trailed only 29-23 at halftime, but Ferriday outscored the Tigers 26-14 in the third quarter to pull away for the victory.

“We knew if we could get into halftime with the lead we would be able to go into the third quarter and set the tone of the game,” Watkins said. “We were able to do that.”

Four players scored in double figures for the Trojans, led by Matthew Smith with 16 points.

Montrell Tennessee scored 14, while Alrion McKeel added 12 and Levier Pryor tallied 11 for Ferriday.

“Our starting five did real well on both ends of the floor,” Watkins said. “Donaldsonville is a good team and runs real well. We were just able to be a little bit quicker tonight.”

Akee Turner led Donaldsonville with 19 points while Claude Rainey scored 10 points for the Tigers in the losing effort.

The Tigers finished their season with a 13-17 record.